I have a few confessions to make. My favorite snack is
Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, my favorite sport is Quidditch, I would love
nothing better than to ride a Nimbus 2000 broom and be the seeker on the Quidditch
team. I’ve been sorted by the sorting hat into the House of Gryffindor and wish
I could trade my email for Owl Mail. I think Hermione Granger is as cute as a
button and she even reminds me a little of one of my fifth grade girlfriends. I
am, I have to admit, a Harry Potter fan.

Now my love for the Harry Potter stories did not come easy.
I remember when the craze swept the nation and I wanted nothing of it. I’m not
one to jump on the latest best seller unless it is by a tried and true author.
I was, in fact, shamed into reading my first Harry Potter Book. A very dear
friend kept asking me why I hadn’t read Harry Potter and my initial response
was “Why would I read what every 10 year in the country was reading?” Then she
said she was disappointed I hadn’t read them. Well I could not have her be
disappointed in me and we do tend to like a lot of the same books ranging from
John Grisham to Nicholas Sparks so, reluctantly, I started reading Harry
Potter.

What I found in Harry Potter was similar to what I found in
the movie Jungle Book. As a child I thought Jungle Book was a pretty cool and
funny movie. Years later when it was re-released Sara and I watched it with
Kathryn and I found it had a new meaning on a different level for adults. I
enjoyed it even more as an adult than as a child.

Harry Potter has been much maligned in churches across the
nation, a New Mexico church even had a book burning where they burned Harry
Potter books by J. K. Rowling and even works by Shakespeare. The reason given
is that the books are evil, that they teach children how to become witches and
warlocks, that they are satanic. Scary words, these are. But these are probably
the same do-gooders who want to keep the Road Runner cartoons off Saturday
morning television for fear that some child will strap rockets on his roller
skates and chase dogs down the road or jump off a cliff and bounce up again
after landing on a spring that was just delivered from the Acme Supply Company.

Well I don’t know too much about the children in New Mexico
but the children I know in Mississippi are a little too smart to fall for such
nonsense. I think these fears more accurately reflect the ignorance of the
adults rather than the children. My friends and I all grew up watching the Road
Runner, Batman, and Superman. Never once did we have the slightest bit of
trouble in separating television from reality. We do have adults who tend to
confuse the two but we call them legislators and that is the topic for another
day.

Harry Potter was, at first, nothing special. He was, as we
find out, an orphan left on the doorstep of his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon
Dursley. He was mistreated as a child, apparently shown little love, and had to
live with his cousin Dudley who picked on him continuously. Harry’s address was
the Cupboard under the Stairs, Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.
But Harry made the best of it. Then around the age of ten, he got the letter
admitting him Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It is at Hogwarts where most of the story takes place. Harry
meets his friend Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. This threesome always
manages to find some sort of mischief to get into but it is always during an
attempt to do good. You see not only is Harry Potter a good read, it is a story
about virtues. And I use the word virtues rather than values for
a reason. As Bill Bennett says in his Book Virutes, values are talked about by
people as if they are something you possess like beads on a string or marbles
in a pouch. But Virtues are the central part of human nature; they are not
something to have but something to be.[1]

By reading Harry Potter we learn the value of friendship,
how do have a caring relationship with others, how to put others before yourself,
and how to make personal sacrifices so that others may benefit. We also find
Harry and his friends breaking a few rules to accomplish a greater good. You
see Harry is not an ordinary child, he is not even an ordinary wizard, Harry is
special in a way that not even he knows at first.

Breaking rules is something we are all taught to not do. Our
teachers in school made up all kinds of rules about chewing gum, eating in
class, talking in the halls, and sitting up straight. Some of these rules were a
good and valuable part of our education, others were merely there to make life
easier for themselves. As I walk through the halls on campus over the summer
and see the teachers sitting in classes as students I can’t help but chuckle.
They have their cokes and coffee sitting on their desks even though the sign at
the front of the room says food and drink not allowed. If only their students
could see them now! What we find in Harry Potter is that he sometimes breaks a
rule or two. I’ve known others who broke rules and I’m sure you have too..

Years ago, when she was in the third grade, my daughter
started a petition at school to get Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday declared
a school holiday. The petition was confiscated and she got fussed at a little
by her teacher. She came home and told us about it and my response to her was
that she needed to decide how much it was worth to her. Did she believe
strongly enough to take a little heat and get in a little trouble? If so then
she had our complete support. If not then she needed to let it go and
apologize. She didn’t back down. A few days letter the petition was returned to
her and shortly thereafter the school declared King’s birthday as a holiday.
Now I’m not naive enough to think that a petition from a third grader made a
school change its policies but perhaps it did get them to think a little about
it. I was never prouder of her than that day, the day she decided to put her
welfare below that of something because it was the right thing to do.

One of my favorite speeches is one given by General Krulak,
now retired Commandant of the Marine Corps, to the Leaders Forum and midshipmen
at the Naval Academy. In this speech, General Krulak talks about the virtues
and values a person holds dear. He points out that as leaders, those in the
audience will be tested and tempted. They will be tried and they will have to
decide and act. He says there is nothing more valuable to a leader than
integrity. Integrity. Integrity and Moral Courage are fundamental traits that
go hand in hand.

Were he not afraid of dirty needles, the General says, he
would take everyone in the audience down to the nearest tattoo parlor and have
the word Integrity tattooed somewhere on their bodies. But he was afraid
of dirty needles so he challenged the audience to tattoo that word on their
souls. Tattoo integrity on your soul he said. As long as it is tattooed
on your soul you will never have to worry about lying, worry about stealing, or
cheating. You will never have to worry about doing the right thing. What is
tattooed on your soul? Look at your soul and what do you see?

If more people would follow the advice of General Krulak
today’s newspapers would be empty. Twenty-four hour news channels would need
only fifteen minutes a day to cover the news. There would be no murders; there
would be no crimes. And we certainly would not be reading about Enron and WorldCom.
Those people did not have integrity tattooed on their souls; I doubt they even had
integrity in their vocabularies.

On September 11th of last year I was onboard the
USS Trenton at the pier in Norfolk. Like many of you, I watched the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon attacks unfold on television. The difference is I was
in the Wardroom of the ship with the people who were certainly going to be
heading in harm’s way. I was with people who had kissed their wives and
children goodbye that morning and reported for duty, fully expecting to see
them again around 4:30 that afternoon. In a matter of minutes that had all
changed. They were now making preparation to get underway. They had no idea
when they would get home again.

The Sailors I was with were scared. The average age was less
than twenty on that ship and they were scared. We were all scared. We were at
the largest naval installation on the eastern seaboard and felt certain, in
those minutes that followed, that we were going to be the next to be attacked.
I did not see panic. I did not see tears. And contrary to what many of our
church leaders say, I saw no knee-jerk violent reactions. What I saw were young
men and women with integrity tattooed on their souls. They turned to and
started to do their jobs. They knew not what they would be called on to do in
the days that followed but they started preparing for anything that would be
asked of them by their country. I saw their tattoos.

In the days that followed I was both proud and saddened. I
was proud of what I had seen onboard the ship but I was saddened by what I
would see on television. I recall one particular interview of a student on the
west coast who, when asked what he thought about the possibility of a draft,
replied he was not in favor of it because it did not fit in with his career
plans. How self-centered can you be? People had just lost their lives, much
more than their careers, and this twenty-something was concerned about his
career plans. I’m not certain he has much of a soul but I am confident his only
tattoos were on his skin.

My confidence was somewhat restored a few weeks later when
several people from my unit were mobilized for Operation Noble Eagle. These
people received a phone call telling them they had to report immediately and
would be shipping out in less than 72 hours. I made it a point to go down while
they were being processed to let them know I cared and to help them get through
the process.

One of the Sailors being mobilized was Petty Officer Sisson.
Petty Officer Sisson has been a Sailor for many years, as has her husband. She
moved around the world with her husband and tried to maintain her activity in
the Naval Reserve but had recently received a letter saying that she had
reached high year tenure and was going to have to retire.

Petty Officer Sisson did not want to leave the service and I
did not want her to leave. She requested a waiver of the high year tenure and
sent it to me to be forwarded. In the Navy just about everything has to be
forwarded through the chain of command, as did this request. Our usual process
is to attach a brief letter that says simply “Forwarded, Recommending approval”.
If we are really excited and have strong feelings we send an endorsement that
says “Forwarded, strongly recommending approval.” I felt even stronger
about this request so I took the time to write a full letter stating her value
to the service and stressing that she was in this situation because she was
doing the right thing by following her husband to a remote duty station even
though it would harm her career. I closed the letter by simply saying that
approving this request was the right thing to do.

We were both somewhat surprised when the request came back
approved. It was indeed a rare occurrence. Now this fine Petty Officer was
facing being taken away from husband for who knew how long. When I went to see
her and the others off I looked at her and asked her if she wished now we had
not tried so hard to get her waiver. She stood there in front of me, looked me
square in the eyes and said, “Commander, this is what I signed up to do and I
am ready to serve my country. I have no regrets.” I saw her soul that day and
it had a great big Integrity tattoo on it. I have spoken to her several
times since that day and she has yet to voice one single complaint or regret.
What kind of a country would it be if we had more Petty Officer Sisson’s and
fewer west coast students?

Harry Potter also has a tattoo. Well, it is not exactly a
tattoo but it is rather a scar. He has a lighting bolt scar on his forehead. We
find out later that this scar was given him when his parents were killed during
a fight with Voldemort. Voldemort, for those unfamiliar with the story is the
incarnation of evil. He is a very powerful wizard that went over to the dark
side and is struggling to regain power.

Harry also has several tattoos on his soul. In addition to
integrity, Harry has tattooed on his soul words like friendship, love,
kindness, and goodness. Harry is also a rule breaker. When he needs to break a
few rules to do something that is for the betterment of all, he breaks them.

In the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
Harry learns that Voldemort is trying to steal the sorcerer’s stone which is
hidden in Hogwarts. This stone, if recovered by Voldemort, would restore his
power and his brand of evil would reign again. Harry gets wind of this and
knows that Voldemort has learned the secrets to enter the chamber and steal the
stone. The only option left to him is to steal the stone first so he, Ron, and
Hermione sneak out of their rooms one night on a mission to get the stone.

On the way out though, they run into another friend of
theirs, Neville Longbottom. Neville is a nice sort of fellow and tried to keep
them from getting in trouble by blocking their way out of the room. Neville
does not want them to get in trouble for several reasons but one is that, if
they are caught, their house will have points taken away which could keep them
from winning the school cup, the prize given to the best dormitory each year.
They do not have time to explain to Neville what they are doing so Hermione
puts a spell on him that causes him to stiffen and fall to the floor allowing
them to pass.

Harry does eventually enter the chamber where the stone is
hidden, but not without some troubles and some trials. To get the stone, Harry,
Ron, and Hermione have to play a game of chess, not ordinary chess--wizard
chess. In wizard chess the pieces move themselves. The knight’s horse moves and
the King’s remove their crowns when checkmated. When pieces are taken they are
destroyed. In order to win the game, Ron must allow himself to be taken
allowing Harry to checkmate. Ron knew he would be harmed but he also knew there
was no other way. I need not tell you that Ron also had a tattoo on his soul.

Harry eventually enters the chamber and while there he comes
face to face with Voldermort’s evil helper Quirrell who is sharing his soul
with Voldemort to keep him alive. During a fight for the stone, which had
magically appeared in Harry’s pocket, Harry touches Quirrell and Quirrell
begins to die. Some time later, as he lay recovering in the hospital following
the fight, Harry asks the headmaster Dumbledore some questions. One is why
Quirrell could not touch him? Dumbledore explains:

“Your mother died to save you. If there
is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He did not realize that
love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no
visible sign...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved
us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin.
Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort,
could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by
something so good.”[2]

We have this same sort of protection. We have a Father that
loves us so much that evil can not harm us. His love has given us the ability
to tattoo our souls and stand for that which is right and against that which is
wrong. We seem to forget this at times and focus on only standing for the right,
but we must also stand up against the wrong. And let there be no mistake, there
is wrong and evil in this world. We saw it on September 11th in New
York and Washington, we saw it in Kosovo, we saw it in Bosnia, we saw it in Beirut,
and we still see it in Afghanistan. Evil abounds, but we have the power to
stand up to it and to prevail.

At the end of the first book in the Harry Potter series, all
of the students gather for a feast and the awarding of the school trophy.
Harry’s house, the House of Gryffindor, had not won the trophy. They were a few
points shy of victory and everyone was more than a little bit disappointed.
Dumbledore, the headmaster, rose from the head table and stated that not all of
the points had been awarded.

As we read in the book, Dumbledore says, “First—to Mr.
Ronald Weasley...for the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many
years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.”

“Second—to Miss Hermione Granger...for the use of cool logic
in the face of danger, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.

The points awarded meant that Gryffindor house was now tied
for first place. If only they had one more point. Dumbledore raised his hand
and silence swept through the room. He then said “It takes a great deal of
bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our
friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom. Gryffindor
house had won the school trophy. Personally I think Neville deserved a few more
point because I think that standing up to your friends is actually harder than
standing up to your enemies.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had broken some rules during their
year in school but they had accomplished a greater good by doing so. Jesus was
also a rule‑breaker. He frequently saw things that were wrong and needed
to be fixed and he fixed them, even if it meant breaking laws and customs of
the times. He stood up for the woman who was about to be stoned and saved her
life. He spoke to the woman at the well. He healed the sick. Jesus was not
afraid to break a few silly rules in order to do some good.

The message we can get from Harry Potter is the same as we
get from General Krulak’s speech. Throughout life we will have many decisions
to make. Some of these decisions are easy, and some are hard. We need no help
in making the easy decisions because they are, well, easy. It is the tough ones
which we need help in making. Maybe we will have time to think about the
decision and even talk to our friends about it. Other times we will not have
time to think very long. It is at those times that we need to check the tattoo
on our souls. Do we have virtues that are a part of us or do we simply
possess values that we can change at will?

Magic does not really play a role in the choices Harry has
to make in the stories. Magic is there but Harry could use his magic and not
have gone after the Sorcerers Stone. He, Ron, and Hermione could have easily
stayed in their rooms that night and not worried about it. They were only
children after all. They had a choice between doing what was right and what was
easy, perhaps the most difficult type of decision there is to make.

In the time of Jesus, there were also miracles. He turned
water into wine. He made the lame walk. He cured leprosy and blindness. He fed
the multitude from seven loaves and just a few fish. He performed, for lack of
a better term, magic. Many people had seen His work and were following him but
there were others who were not yet convinced. The Pharisees wanted still more
signs from Him; they needed more proof before they could tattoo their souls and
follow Him. The choice of following Him was one they, like us, must make on our
own. And just as for the Pharisees, there will be no miracles and no magic to make
the decision for us.

Harry Potter has been much maligned by some. I believe this
is undeserved and that there is much to be learned from reading about his
antics. Getting children or even adults for that matter, to read is never a bad
thing. Those who oppose Harry Potter seem to think our children are a little
dimmer than the one’s I know. The children I know are quite capable of reading
about magic yet knowing there is no such thing. They will not strap Acme
rockets on their skates, nor will they jump on a broomstick and think it will
carry to the Quidditch match. They will, I think, learn much about life and
choices from reading Harry Potter.

At the end of General Krulak’s speech, he challenges the
audience to take a page from the Bible and to soar with the eagles. The prophet
Isaiah says that those “who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they
shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they
shall walk and not faint.”[4] General
Krulak then closes with a poem, The Eagle and the Wolf

There is a great battle that rages
inside me.

One side is a soaring eagle.

Everything the eagle stands for is good
and true and beautiful.

It soars above the clouds.

Even though it dips down into the
valleys, it lays its eggs on the mountain tops.

The other side of me is a howling wolf.

And that raging, howling wolf
represents the worst that is in me.

He eats upon my downfalls and justifies
himself by his presence in the pack.

Who wins this great battle?

The one I feed.

The one I feed.

Which one will you feed? When your soul reaches heaven, what
will be tattooed on it?

What troubles us today is not J. K. Rowling’s books about
Harry Potter but rather a lack of tattoos...a lack of tattoos on our souls that
read Integrity, and Moral Courage.